the fiscal cliff that is in front of us today. >> chris: president obama andspeakerboehnersoundingupbeat about prospects to cut a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. after the panel and congressional leaders met at the white house, rhetoric was reassuring. the question is: is it real? do you get a sense, bob, this is the subject of your new book, that they do see or beginning to see a path to compromise or are they trying to reassure the nervous consumers before the christmas holidays? nervous investors because the stock market has gone down 1,000 points. >> symp nervous about this. the next six weeks could be the six weeks that shook the united states if they don't fix this. there is clearly a new move. the way they will this is hostage otherwise, republicans are determined not to let the tax rate goes up. the president is determined or is determined to get more revenue. and it's possible to do this. and the president is going along with some idea of entitlement reform that we are going to actually cut spending. this is really -- they are going to have to -- they are lagerhead on the tax is

directly at odds with house speakerjohnboehner. >>could you accept a deal that does not include tax rate increases for the wealthy? we've seen talk about a possible compromise that could leave rates the same but cap deductions for high-income earners. is that something that's acceptable? >> no. >> not at all no, way? >> no. the preponderance made it very clear in his campaign that there are not enough -- what you just described is a formula and a blueprint for hampering our future. you cannot go forward -- you have to cut some investments. if you cut too many you are hampering growth, you're hampering education, investments for the future. >> and even thousands of miles away it appears president obama is still focused on those negotiations. while touring a royal monastery with secretary of state clinton in thailand the president was overheard mentioning the budget talks to a monk. the president later clarified his comments -- >> he's not any monk. >> no. >> he has some big i vestments in the stock market. >> he later clarified his comments at a news conference. >> yes, we were working on

, the president is meeting withjohnboehner, thefirst face-to-face talk. in december 2010, you called your plan the moment of truth. almost two years later, but moment are we at now? >> i think this is the magic moment. a moment when our generation has the chance to really do something about this problem that we created. it is our generation that got us into this mess. i think we have a good chance. yet a second term democrats president who has come out and said he is willing to put entitlements on the table. big deal. you have a speaker, a republican speaker who really gets it. he understands the deaths of the problems they face. he has said the are going to put revenues on the table. big move. we got half the members of the senate already saying they will support a balanced plan. which makes a lot of sense. we have the business community lined up firmly for doing something. most importantly, we have the fiscal cliff. where if we go over it, we are going to face the most predictable economic crisis in history. for all of us in here, it is also the most avoidable. i think this is the magic mome